Experimenting with Linux

I haven’t posted in some time now primarily because I haven’t gotten a break until now. The pressure isn’t over as yet, but it’s still a break.

Today I am going to experiment with Linux – actually, Fedora to be more precise. For those unaware of what Linux is here it is. Linux is just another operating system for a computer…simple. It’s just like Windows, but it is built around a different architecture. Linux started out and continues to be open-source (well, at least some) while others are being sold for enterprise use. Linux comes in many distributions (distros).

Anyway, Linux is different than Windows and that is why you must learn how to use it…hopefully not much different than when you started using Windows. I was looking for a Linux distribution that would be fast, flexible (with Office applications, Internet-ready), easy to learn and with a decent GUI. Many people recommend Mandrake for beginners, but when I got to the site I discovered that it’s not free anymore. So, I decided to go with Fedora, which is based on RedHat (now a commercial product), but is free and open-source. I started the download of the ISO images (4 x ~600MB) today and it is a good thing I have Firefox, because it is maxing out all my bandwidth at 235KBps (full T1 2mbps) and going fast (not an easy task for Internet Explorer). Later this afternoon I will burn the CDs and run the installation on my desktop PC. I have 20GB hard drive space waiting for it. Hope everything goes well.